Loubardias: Gallagher locked in for Canada

The competition for jobs on Canada’s entry for the World Junior Championship is as good as I can remember, which means there are not a lot of locks for the 2012 edition of Team Canada. Following the first night, Brendan Gallagher of the Vancouver Giants can book his room in both Edmonton and Calgary.

There were alot of solid if not excellent performances on night one from the likes of Phillip Di Giussepe, Devante Smith-Pelly and Mark Scheifele to name a few, but the one guy I just couldnt take my eyes off was Gallagher.

The Vancouver Giants forward has a motor that never stops running. At five-foot-nine, 175 pounds the Montreal Canadiens prospect is like a pit bull that hasn’t tasted meat in a month. Gallagher is enjoying another superb season in Vancouver registering 22 goals and 46 points in 28 games. These totals follow a 91 point campaign in which he showed the rest of the WHL and those in the CHL that he had taken his game to another level.

Gallagher never met a crease he didn’t like. He is successful because there is not a dirty area he wont go to in order to get the job done. Nobody knows that better than Team Canada and Giants bench boss Don Hay. Gallagher posseses excellent skill wins almost every battle for loose pucks, makes plays, can shoot it and to me just exhibits every time I watch him play there is no place he would rather be. Not to put any extra pressure on him, but do not be surprised when big games at this year’s World Juniors are on the line that Gallagher isn’t right in the middle of doing the most when it matters the most.